


In the Depths

by thisbluespirit



Category: Doctor Who (1963), Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Battle of Sedgemoor, Crossover, Ficlet, Gen, Haunted Places, Random Pairing Generator, Request Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 11:48:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15142427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisbluespirit/pseuds/thisbluespirit
Summary: There's always something lurking in the memory of the place, creating trouble with time...





	In the Depths

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sovay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sovay/gifts).



> Written for Sovay, from the prompt: the Seventh Doctor / Silver / Sapphire - combat & One Night Stand

“It’s muddy,” said Silver. It was more of a protest than a statement of fact. “And wet.”

Sapphire’s mouth twitched. “These are wetlands.”

“Why am I here?” he said, screwing up his face. “This isn’t my sort of affair. Someone’s made a mistake.”

Sapphire became very still, straining to hear, see, or in any way sense what was tugging at the edges of her awareness: voices? No, not quite that. Nothing as definite as a voice.

“Good question,” said someone from behind them, someone who was not Silver. “Why _are_ you here? It isn’t safe, you know. And it must be quite the graveyard, under the surface.”

Sapphire didn’t turn. She smiled. Steel would, of course, be alarmed to find a Time Lord in the vicinity of a break, but she found them intriguing. Especially this one. Besides, _that_ was what had been pulling at her. His presence was a coincidence, but not what had caused the trouble, and he had put his finger on the heart of the matter.

“Yes,” she said. That was what she had been sensing. “Bodies, buried deep. They may not still be here, but they fell here once, and it’s not been forgotten yet.” She leant against the gate, with its mix of informative and warning notices about the historic nature of the site and the danger of nature, and looked out over the flat, reedy land. She turned her head to take in the church tower of the nearby village: the church window had been broken in the battle; houses damaged. Memories of that also lurked here.

“Sedgemoor,” said the Doctor. “Another battle. Bodies, blood, bones.” He twisted his mouth in momentary distaste as he said it. “All rather pointless in this case.”

Silver had removed himself to a safe distance, sitting on the fence, watching the newcomer; watching Sapphire. Now, he leapt down. “Bodies, yes,” he said, “And weapons. That’s why I’m here.”

“Do you like weapons?”

“Do I?” said Silver. “They’re a little crude, but they’re more in my line of work than reeds and mud. Sapphire, there must be something – armour, or a sword, or knife – something like that. Still there. The focus.”

Sapphire bit back another smile. “As you say, Silver, that’s why _you’re_ here. You’ll have to fish for it.”

“Sapphire,” he said, with deep reproach, but waded into the murky water nevertheless.

The Doctor consulted something in his hands that looked like a pocket watch, but which was not. Even from here, Sapphire could sense alien metal and advanced technology at work, measuring and calculating. She shot a wary look at Silver, but he was moving forward, frowning in concentration and no doubt in disapproval of the discomfort and indignity of his part, and gave no sign that he had spotted the Doctor’s fascinating toy.

“I’d try over there,” said the Doctor, and pointed. “But be careful. It’s giving off some peculiar signals.”

Silver seemed now to be listening to the area the Doctor had indicated. “It would,” he said, and flickered a look at Sapphire. _Sapphire. He’s right. I’m not sure if I should touch it._

 _Asking before you touch, Silver?_ Sapphire raised an eyebrow. 

Silver pulled a face in return.

She crossed to join him and plunged her hand into the mud, going down deeper than Silver could have done, from the present into the past. Her eyes glowed a fierce blue. She could see the soldiers, hear the cries of battle, the alarm of the nearby villagers. Weapons. Mud. Fire. Blood. Bodies.

Her hand tightened around a dagger. It wanted to tell her it was still encrusted with the blood of the dead, but that was impossible. It could only be steel, covered in mud.

“Weapons,” said the Doctor, and he was suddenly nearer than he should have been. Sapphire opened her eyes. She was standing beside him, back on the path. Silver was sitting on the fence again, smoothing down his clothes, shaking himself, even though there was no sign of the mud that should have stained his suit. “They always lead to trouble. One way or another.”

“This one certainly did,” Sapphire said and held it out to him.

The Doctor nodded, and took it, and his piece of alien technology flared into life, enveloping the dagger in a containment field. Sapphire could sense the change in the air around the item; molecules shifted momentarily out of their regular patterns.

“That won’t hold it forever,” she said. “We need to destroy it.”

The Doctor looked at Silver. “Yes. But its influence can’t escape the field, while I think your friend here could navigate his way in, as it were.”

“Of course,” said Silver. He smiled briefly, and then took the dagger from Sapphire. “Oh, very nice,” he said, and gave the Doctor’s ‘watch’ a wistful glance. “I don’t suppose you’d let me look at that?”

 _Silver_ , said Sapphire in warning.

“Only a look,” said Silver, but he was already changing the dagger, transforming it into one long neutral strip of steel, clean of all its dirt, and then into a fork and spoon. “There!”

The Doctor switched the field off. “Has it worked?”

Sapphire picked up the two items of cutlery, and then nodded.

“Of course it has,” said Silver. “It’s entirely changed. Much more useful, besides, and with no trace of what it was before.”

The place still held the memory, though, Sapphire noted as they left. They so often did.


End file.
